This landmark collection discusses the condition of the subject of English in UK higher education and elsewhere. It understands 'English' not as idealistic or theoretical concept, but as practice made material in institutional, theoretical and human contexts. Ranging across a variety of practices undertaken under the name of English in the UK, Europe, India, Africa, Australia and the US, the book confronts what we teach, how we teach and why we teach one of the most popular university disciplines at the start of the twenty-first century.